Ah yes, we all remember Trump’s wall that he boasted would be paid for by Mexico, but when he finally realized that wasn’t going to happen, he decided he’d demand the money from congress instead. Of course, that also meant, by extent, that us taxpayers would be funding it. While both Democrats and Republican’s wanted immigration reform, they didn’t quite agree on the whole wall thing.
As the equivalent of a toddler not getting what he wanted, when it looked like Trump wasn’t going to be able to get the big wall he promised his voters, he threatened to shutdown the government because of it. And indeed that was no empty threat, because the government was shut down for 35 days.
When that didn’t work, Trump got around his diplomacy dilemma by declaring a national emergency in order to secure funding for his wall. Good times.
Following his abuse of power to obtain wall funding, Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives – but for something else entirely - a formal House inquiry that discovered Trump solicited foreign interference to help him in the election, withholding foreign aid money from Ukraine to coerce them into investigating Biden.
On top of that, Trump allegedly decided that he would also obstruct Congress by telling his administration to ignore any subpoenas for documents and testimony. While democrats voted in favor of impeachment during his trial, not even one Republican House member did, and thus, he was acquitted.
As part of the Trump administration’s border security practices, migrant children were seized and separated from their parents. This act of cruelty was eventually discovered by social workers who found thousands of migrant children had been separated from their families.
Trump’s controversial “zero tolerance” policy against migrant families went on for over six months, with the Homeland Security inspector general’s office not accurately reporting family relationships between parents and their children. Fortunately, the “zero tolerance” policy eventually came to an end.
Just six months after he was appointed, Sean Spicer decided to resign from his role as White House press secretary. For months, he had been called out for misinformation and misleading the general public, much to the dismay of the Trump administration.
While Trump and Sean Spicer parted on good terms, his inability to make the Trump administration look good contributed to his downfall. In his farewell comments, Spicer faulted the administration itself saying that there were “too many cooks in the kitchen,” as he put it. In other words, when there are so many people working to concoct the perfect lie, it can be hard to keep all the lies straight.
Of course, replacing Sean Spicer didn’t really make the Trump administration look any better. Trump continued to receive negative press, and in true Trump fashion, it was everyone else’s fault but his own. In 2017, Trump lashed out at NBC and other media outlets for what he infamously called “fake news” – a phrase that would be repeated by Trump and his supporters for years to come.
Earlier, Trump had complained about reports that he was ramping up the country’s nuclear arsenal, as well as reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called him a “moron” and was considering resigning. While Tillerson denied any notions of resigning, he never denied calling Trump a “moron.” Ouch.
While initially denying that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election, Trump didn’t stand his ground on that position, taking his statements back after U.S. intelligence findings found that the Russian government had indeed hacked our election.
However, Trump still claimed that there was no collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia and then tried to take attention off himself by alleging that others may have interfered with the election.
Just two months before Trump’s first impeachment inquiry, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was allegedly feeling pressured by Trump to become involved in the US presidential election by investigating Joe Biden. Zelenskyy and a group of advisors had met to talk about Ukraine’s energy needs and, instead, had allegedly discussed Trump and lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s coercive tactics.
While the Ukrainian leader was wary of getting involved, Trump had allegedly pushed for him to investigate both Biden and his son. Trump denied any pressure and had Zelenskyy come out in a conference to say, “We had, I think, good phone call. It was normal. We spoke about many things, and I think, and you read it, that nobody push it. Push me.”
After a failed meeting with Democratic leaders in effort to end his government shutdown, Trump took to Twitter to complain about the “Mainstream Media” as he so often did. In his tweet on January 9, 2019, he wrote:
The Mainstream Media has NEVER been more dishonest than it is now. NBC and MSNBC are going Crazy. They report stories, purposely, the exact opposite of the facts. They are truly the Opposition Party working with the Dems. May even be worse than Fake News CNN, if that is possible!
In another tweet, he complained about media outlets leaking information he did not intend to become public knowledge, writing:
Gave an OFF THE RECORD luncheon, somewhat of a White House tradition or custom, to network anchors yesterday - and they quickly leaked the contents of the meeting. Who would believe how bad it has gotten with the mainstream media, which has gone totally bonkers!
In 2020, the coronavirus outbreak was the biggest news of the year. The pandemic effectively put the entire country on hold, closing businesses and even the government while also leading to shortages and rationing that affected just about everyone. While the severity took many by surprise, it was no surprise for Trump, who chose to downplay the pandemic as basically a case of a bad flu.
It later came out that Trump was told by security adviser Robert C. O’Brien that “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency,” according to Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward. Trump called Woodward and admitted to him that he had deliberately minimized the threat of the coronavirus to the public.
In 2017, Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor to President Trump, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. While Flynn initially cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, in 2019 Flynn changed his legal team and sought to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming misconduct by prosecutors and the FBI.
Flynn claimed he was asked questions that he could not have possibly nor accurately have recalled from memory and was misled by the FBI as to his rights in the matter. Since the FBI could not prove that Flynn was intentionally misleading them, the case was dismissed by Attorney General William Barr, citing misconduct by the FBI. Trump then pardoned Flynn later that year, ending the criminal case against him.
During its four years, and not only from Sean Spicer, there were numerous lies coming from the Trump administration, sometimes so unnecessary, it was difficult to discern fact from reality in their eyes. Everything from misrepresenting an inaugural address turnout to downplaying COVID-19, Trump took the public trust for granted and without a justified cause.
Overstating things and has always been a part of Trump’s personality but when it comes to addressing the general public, there’s really excuse for it. While his supporters may have forgiven him, for the rest of the public, there are so few reasons to trust him when all the little lies add up.
Adopted in 2015, the Paris Climate Accord established an international treaty between nations in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. The United States had been a part of the agreement since 2016.
However, Trump, who was a known opponent and skeptic of climate change, announced his intention to withdraw from it in 2017. He lived by that word, and the withdrawal became official in 2020, just a day after the presidential election. Pointless, it turned out as Biden rejoined the agreement within the first month of his presidency.
In 2020, the year he was elected president, it came out that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes. In 2021, the first year of his presidency, he also paid just $750. So, how does such a wealthy and successful businessman pay so little in taxes compared to the rest of us?
It turns out that Trump reported large business losses, which he used to offset tax liabilities. He also maintained offshore bank accounts and used numerous other loopholes for deductions. While trump initially rejected the idea of showing his tax returns, in 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump's tax returns could be subpoenaed by New York prosecutors.
Despite being a territory of the United States, Trump decided it was time to cut off funding after the Hurricane Maria disaster. Trump believed that Puerto Rico had been receiving proportionately too much in aid and that it didn’t need any more.
The congressional stalemate was over a $13.6 billion disaster relief bill that would provide funding for Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska, as well as additional funds for Puerto Rico which was running out of food stamp funding for the 40% of its residents who received it. As of June 2023, FEMA had given $23.4 billion in recovery money going back to its 2017 hurricane relief and its subsequent earthquakes in 2019 and 2020.
A severability clause states that if any part of the document is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the rest of the document remains in effect. The purpose is to preserve the overall intent and functionality of the agreement or law, even if specific parts are struck down.
Trump would often use severability clauses in his executive orders, particularly his more controversial ones such the travel ban, and healthcare orders in 2017. He even used a severability clause in an executive order trying to limit the size of two national monuments in Utah: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. In doing so, he protected other provisions in the order such as lifting restrictions on motorized vehicles.
